The Physics of Truth
by spak111
Summary: Chapter 14 is up! Harper gets Beka and Trance into trouble when Dylan tries to recruit a new planet into the Commonwealth.
1. The Mayhem Begins...

Description:  This is a story that takes place an unspecified time after Ouroboros.  The crew makes their way to a new planet hoping to make new alliances.  A new character will be introduced, and this is mainly a Harper story, however, most characters will be in it and are involved in various subplots. 

Disclaimer:  I do not own and am in no way related to the production of this show.  Tribune Entertainment owns all legal rights to Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda.

Chapter 1 

"So, exactly, where are we going again Dylan?" Beka asked, turning to Dylan after disengaging from slipstream.

"We are going to the planet Orkana Prime.  It's one of the few worlds that wasn't totally destroyed when the Commonwealth fell," Dylan replied casually.  "They're a rather, um, protective people. They don't exactly like outsiders."

"If they don't like outsiders, then why are we being allowed to pay a visit?"

"The chancellor of Academy Serinia contacted me.  He said that he might be interested in joining the New Commonwealth."

"And, why are we listening to a chancellor of an academy?  What political power does he hold to make such a decision?"

"The chancellor of their academy is also the head of state."

"Now approaching Orkana Prime," Rommie's voice was heard over the intercom,  "We're being hailed, Captain."

"Patch him through to the command deck."

An older looking man came up on the screen.  He wore an ornately decorated blue robe, his hair was silver and on his face he had a bright smile.

"Hello, Captain Hunt, I'm glad that you could make it to our humble planet.  I welcome you with open arms to Orkana Prime."

"Hello, Chancellor Rycar, thank you for your cordial invitation.  I hope the citizens of Orkana have been informed that we will be visiting."

"Yes, Captain Hunt.  They have been informed are anticipating your arrival, however, I will have two escorts waiting for you, just in case some of my citizens are not as _happy _about your arrival as I am."

"Thank you, Chancellor Rycar, we will see you shortly."

The image of Chancellor Rycar vanished from the screen.

"He seems like a nice enough person," Beka said, "but what was he wearing?  It looked like a bath robe."

"That, Beka, is the standard garb of academy personnel.  The different colors determine rank and position."

Rommie's avatar walked onto the command deck.

"All preparations for going to the surface are complete Dylan.  Whenever you're ready to depart, we can leave," Rommie said.  

"I'm ready Rommie, we can leave now," Dylan said walking toward Rommie.

"Wait a minute," Beka objected. "You're not going alone with just Rommie."

"Beka, we don't want to scare these people, I think the fewer there are of us, the better," Dylan replied.

"Besides, Beka, I can take care of Dylan, plus we'll have two of the Chancellor's appointed escorts.  We should be fine," Rommie added.

"I'd still rather come along and make sure," Beka insisted.

            "Fine, you can come, just don't tell Harper that I'm letting you come along," Dylan sighed.  "It took me over an hour to convince him that only Rommie and I needed to go."

            "And now your lying to me," Harper said, the door closing behind him.  "If Beka's going, so am I."

            "And now the fun part starts," Beka said, laughing. 


	2. Left Behind

                                                **Chapter 2**

"Nice job, Harper. Now you've gotten us both left behind!" Beka ranted. 

"Take it easy, geez," Harper replied. "It's not as if he left us under bodyguard or anything." Which is promptly when Tyr walked onto the bridge.

"Captain Hunt wished for me to watch over you two while he's planetside for his meeting," Tyr stated. "He knows how mischievous you both can be, and figured the two of you together would be even worse." Harper started to say something, but Beka silenced him.

"Don't say anything else. I might be forced to kill you." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You are cleared for Docking Platform 3-2-7," the rigid voice said over the comm.

"Thank you," Dylan said, then flipped off the comm. As he guided the ship towards the docking facility, Rommie walked into the control station. 

"So what kind of people are we dealing with?" Rommie asked. "I know the planet is terra-formed, and all the other geographical, political, and militaristic aspects of the planet, but my database is a little rusty. Refresh my memory."

"Well, for starters, they're a scared people," Dylan replied as he gently set the ship down on the platform. "They saw other worlds ravaged and battered when the Commonwealth fell. So they will naturally distrust the idea of the New Commonwealth. Our job isn't going to be easy."

"I see," said Rommie as they started making their way towards the hatch. 

Dylan lowered the platform, and he and Rommie walked down into the sunlight.

            "Uhh, Tyr?" Harper said timidly as he approached him. 

            "What?" Tyr responded curtly.

            "I, uh, have to go to the bathroom," Harper said hesitantly.

            Tyr scowled "Hurry up. I don't want to have to come hunt you down," he said threateningly. "I'm already suspicious of your comrade."

Harper quickly removed himself from the bridge and headed for the machine shop. "Stupid Nietzschean," he muttered. "That's the oldest trick in the book…"

"What book?" a voice said from out of nowhere

"AHH!" Harper jumped, then turned to look at his surprise visitor. "Oh, it's you. Don't do that again, Trance."

"Sorry," came the reply. "But, what book were talking about?"

"Nothing, no book. It's a figure of speech," Harper said quickly, as he started towards the machine shop again. 

"Where are you going?" Trance asked, following him. 

"To the machine shop," Harper said.

"Can I come along? I'm rather bored," Trance said.

Harper started to answer, but then stopped and thought for a moment. Realizing that having her go near Tyr, and innocently stating that she saw Harper heading for someplace other than a bathroom would probably end with him in a whole lot of trouble, he answered, "Sure!"

            "Hello Captain Hunt," a large figure said. "We will be your escort to the Academy."

            As they started to walk, Dylan noticed their uniforms.

            "Those are some pretty snazzy outfits you two have there," Dylan said. "What rank do you two hold within the Academy?"

            "The red cloak and armor show that we are the highest field soldiers commissioned by the Academy.  The blue stripe on our right arms signifies that we are the chancellor's bodyguards," one of the escorts replied.

            "Interesting."

            "Yet, you carry no weapons.  How are you able to protect the chancellor?" Rommie asked.

            "Martial arts training is standard teaching at the Academy.  In order to achieve our rank, you must become quite proficient at it to the point where you are able to kill a being instantly."

            "Is that all you study at the Academy, how to fight?"

            In the machine shop, Harper was scurrying about, collecting odds and ends, while Trance sat watching him.

            "So where exactly are you going?" Trance asked.

            "What? Who said I'm going anywhere?" Harper replied.

            "You're collecting personal belongings, and packing them. What else could you be doing?" Trance replied

            Not caring whether Trance knew or not, Harper said, "I'm going to the planet. I wanted to go, but Dylan 'forbade' me to go. I say 'too bad'. I'm going anyway. He'll never know that I was there."

            "He will if I tell him," a voice said behind him

            "AHH!" Harper jumped and spun to see his surprise visitor.

            "Hello," said Beka.

            "You people REALLY need to stop doing that!"

            "You want my lips sealed," said Beka, "then you take me with you."

            "Absolutely not," Harper said coolly. "You're nothing but trouble."

            "Hmm, it seems to me that Tyr would find it interesting that you're down here…"

            "All right! All right! You can come! Don't make me pull you out of a bar fight!" Harper exclaimed. He turned to Trance. "Sorry, my dear, but we can't leave you behind. Too much of a security hazard. You understand." Trance gave him a quizzical look. "We're kidnapping you."

            "Oh," Trance said. "How exciting!"


	3. Walking Through the Garden

Chapter 3

            As Dylan, Rommie and their convoy made their way to the Academy, their escorts explained what they learned there.

            "Our primary studies include mathematics and theoretical physics," one of the guards answered.  "While learning these core fields of study, we are also taught how to serve and protect our planet."

            "We learn how to do this," the other guard cut in, "by learning and mastering the laws of physics."

            "So, its like a military academy," Dylan said.

            "More or less," one of the guards said.  "We have deep pride in our planet and culture.  We will do anything to protect that."

            "Your academy then uses this knowledge of science then to create technologies to help protect yourselves?"  Rommie asked.

            "Not exactly," one replied.  "We learn how to manipulate the laws of physics to our own will.  Telepathy, telekinesis, and temporal shifting are just a few things that we learn at the academy."

"I didn't know that even existed," exclaimed Rommie.

"Although this is very hard on the body at times, our physiology is different than that of most humanoids.  By using these abilities they tear apart our nervous system, but, we are able to regenerate it over time."

Rommie nodded, absent in thought.

The group walked for a while in silence, stopping finally in front of a set of large gates.

"We're at the Academy now, the Chancellor will meet you in his office," one of the escorts replied.  With that, the escorts briskly walked away, leaving the gate of the Academy open to Dylan and Rommie. 

"So," Rommie said, "Do you want to ring the doorbell, or should I?"

"This bucket of bolts had better be safe," Beka warned as they made their way down to the planet.

"Don't worry," Harper said, "I made it myself."

"That's what I was afraid of," Beka said, rolling her eyes

"Oh yes, I'm only an engineering genius. I would so use a pod with, you know, a major hull breach," Harper spat. 

"Stop it, you two. You're giving me a headache," Trance said. "Harper, how exactly did you modify this escape pod?"

As they entered the upper atmosphere, Harper explained. "Oh, it's easy, my dear. All I did was take some spare ionic thrusters, fuse them to the hull, link them to an enhanced navigation program, which, by the way, I designed myself, then tied it all to this advanced steering yoke."

"Uhh, English, please?" Trance said

"I took some engines and welded it to a steering wheel."

"Oh."

"Egotistical brat. Stop showing off and just fly the damn craft," Beka said.

"Whatever you say, boss," Harper said darkly. 

As they pierced the lower atmosphere, something abruptly sounded in the cabin.

"What's that?" Beka asked pressingly.

"Just one of the engines," Harper said casually. "It's no biggie, I'll just cut another and we'll go down on two engines, instead of four."

"You're sure you know how to do that?" Beka asked.

Harper just smirked.

Then another klaxon sounded. And another. And another.

"Shit!" said Harper.

 "Where's that good old engineering genius now?"

"Shut up!" 


	4. The Mayhem Ensues...

Chapter 4

            "I apologize for you not being escorted to my office," the Chancellor said. "My guards were just eager to report back in to their commanding officer."

            "I understand completely," Dylan said. "I see that you are not unguarded though, which is what I was concerned about." 

            "I appreciate your concern, Captain Hunt. Please, sit down." They sat, except for Rommie, who opted to stand by Dylan. "Now please explain to me about this New Commonwealth that you are an ambassador of," said Rycar. "How will it benefit my people?"

            "Well, with the New Commonwealth, we are aligned with one another in all aspects.  This includes both trade and war.  The other worlds in the Commonwealth will help fighting enemies of those not in the Commonwealth, and will try to keep tension low between all worlds."

            "Well, Captain Hunt, this sounds all very well and good.  Although our economy needs no help, we at sometime may need your military assistance."

            "I saw very little merchants or shops while we were traveling through the city," Rommie said.  "What is your economy based on?"

            "Much of our income comes in through using our Academy.  You see, people contract our services and then we perform them.  Those that have been trained in the Academy are found very useful in almost all worlds."

            "So, your economy is based off of bounty hunting?"

            "No, not exactly.  We prefer to think of it as mercenary work."

"And that's it?  No farming, no agricultural work, not even manufacturing?" Dylan asked.

"Oh, well…of course yes.  The 'typical' citizen is the one that works in the farm fields, or in a factory.  They are important to maintaining our world, but are not a large base for residual income for us.  Our gifted citizens however are taken into the Academy and learn the disciplines of militaristic training."

"Your style of economy really doesn't fit in with the Commonwealth.  Perhaps we can find a new source of income for you as so that you can also help the greater good of the people.  Why don't we return to our ship and investigate this further.  We'll contact you if we find anything."

"I'm quite sorry, Captain Hunt, I can't let you do that." Rycar said, waving his hands.   Guards moved to the doorways.

"But _I _will return to your ship, to take it!"

Rommie looked at Dylan, "Is this what you meant by this isn't going to be easy?"

When the smoke cleared, Harper threw open the hatch and all three stumbled out of the smoking ruin. 

"Remind me never to fly Harper Spacelines again," Beka said, coughing.

"Hey, at least we're still alive and relatively healthy," Harper retorted.

"Will you two shut up and help me?" Trance said, looking around. "I'm trying to figure out where we are."

Beka and Trance looked around some, while Harper studied a datapad.

"Forests," Beka said softly, "why did it have to be forests?"

"It looks as if north is…that way," Harper said, pointing. "And there's a city about four kilometers that way." He pointed southeast. "We'd better start moving, so as to make it by nightfall.

"Excellent," Trance said. "I had wanted to come here too, but, as with you two, Dylan forbade me to. But I hadn't dreamed of doing anything this grandiose about it. You," Trance pointed at Harper," are nothing but trouble."

"What can I say, I'm just that good," Harper said. 

"Shut your trap and start walking," Beka barked.

They traveled on for about three or four hours, until they stopped for a drink.

"You know, if you had just been doing your job, instead of traipsing about the ship, I wouldn't have been in this predicament," Beka suddenly spat.

"Hey, I am allowed to visit the command deck every now and again. I am the ship's engineer," Harper responded. 

"Alright that does it. I am not playing mother the rest of this trip! If you two can't talk civil to each other, then don't open your mouths!" Trance stated, her face turning red. "I'm so sick of…"

"What was that?" Harper asked suddenly. 

"What?" Beka and Trance said at the same time

The bushes next to them rustled softly.

"Who's there?" Beka called out, pulling her gun.

No reply

"Ah, it's nothing," Harper said, turning.

He began to walk away, when he ran into something. Stumbling back, he looked to see what he had hit.

And standing there, was a six-foot black clad figure, toting a very nasty-looking rifle.

"Do not move," the figure said.

"Alright, listen pal, I really don't want to have to kill you, so how about you just step aside?" Beka said

The figure motioned with his rifle, then said, "I don't think so, girly. Look around you."

They all looked around, and there were five more black figures surrounding them.

"I was right, Harper," Trance said. "You are trouble."

"Boy, when I'm hot, I'm sizzling," Harper said nervously.


	5. Some Rough and Tumble...

Author's Remarks:  Thanks for all of the feedback!!  Hopefully these next few chapters will make some more things seem a bit clearer if anything was a little fuzzy.

Chapter 5

            Dylan and Rommie were roughly thrown into a small, dark cell beneath the Academy.  The walls were made of large, heavy stones; the door that shut swiftly behind them was made of a titanium alloy, reinforced by steel.

            "I'm quite sorry that things had to turn out this way," Rycar's voice echoed down the corridor.  He quickly made his way to their cell, his blue robes flowing behind him.  "However, the Andromeda Ascendant will be a valuable asset to my planet."

            "What do you hope to accomplish by this?" Dylan asked.  "You realize the Commonwealth will come looking for us.  Plus," he added for emphasis, "my crew is still on the Andromeda."

            The chancellor laughed and shook his head.

            "You fool, I have an entire school of militants at my disposal, along with the power to warp space and time to my will.  Plus, scans of your ship reveal that there is only one crew member on board at this present time."

            "What?" Dylan and Rommie said simultaneously, looking at each other.

            "They wouldn't…" Dylan started, but Rycar interrupted him.

            "Shortly after your arrival, an escape pod was jettisoned from your ship.  It crashed in the forest not far from here.  I sent a group of guards to investigate.  Any who were aboard surely are dead, either by the crash or at the hands of my guards.  Now," Rycar said, turning away, "I must go take my ship."

            He walked away, his guards trailing, leaving Dylan and Rommie alone in their cell.

            After they had left, Rommie turned to Dylan.

            "Ten thrones says Harper is the one who suggested using the pod."

            "Another ten says Beka was flying it," Dylan said.  Then he added, "I ordered Tyr to watch over those two, obviously he failed, so double or nothing says that Trance is their innocent bystander."

            "You're on."

~~~~~***~~~~~

            "So, Beka, what's your big plan for getting us out of this?" Harper chattered.

            "Drop your weapons!" the lead figure shouted.

            "_My_ big plan?!?  Why all of a sudden am _I_ in charge?!?" Beka exclaimed.

            Suddenly, the same bush that moved before, moved again.

            "What?" Trance asked.  "There are more of you?"

            As the guards looked towards the bush, a figure shot out of the brush opposite the bush, tackling two of the guards.  Harper and Beka seized the opportunity, shooting two more of the guards.  Trance hit the ground as a lightfight quickly erupted.  Harper ran to the two fallen figures and quickly seized their rifles.

            "Here!" he shouted tossing one at Trance.  "Shoot!"

            Remembering the figure that had started the brawl, Trance looked over in that direction.  The mysterious figure was wrestling with one of them, as the other one was starting to get up.  Trance quickly aimed at the guard and fired.  The black-clad figure fell lifeless. The mysterious rescuer then focused his attention on the other figure. Wrestling with him, the helper landed 3 quick punches, and the guard fell limp.

            On the other side of the clearing, Beka and Harper weren't faring as well.  Hiding behind a fallen tree, they were in a shootout with the last two guards, and their cover was quickly being chewed away be the incoming fire.  A shot erupted out of nowhere, and struck a guard. Trance knelt beside Harper.

            "Thought that you could use some help," Trance said with a small grin.

            They made quick work of the other guard with three quick shots.

            As the sound of blasts finally died down, they all stepped into the clearing.  Harper looked to where their mysterious rescuer was.  He was lying on his back next to the guard he had been in melee with, breathing heavily.

            Harper walked over and extended his hand to him, helping him up.  For the first time, they finally had a good look at their rescuer. He wore a dark green tunic with a black vest over it, and black pants with a yellow stripe down both outseams. His strawberry blonde hair was tousled from the fight.  His body was that slightly less built than Harper's, although he was about two inches taller than Harper.  

            "Thanks, friend," Harper said, skeptically.

            "Anytime," the mysterious person replied, still heaving, "I'm just glad that I could help."

            "Seamus Harper, genius engineer," Harper said with flourish, while Beka rolled her eyes. He pointed to Beka. "This is Beka Valentine, my boss." He then pointed to Trance. "Trance Gemini, our doc."

            "Kael Lidar," the person replied, "and this…" he said pointing to the bush that had been moving earlier, "is…"

            Abruptly, a slender female figure near the same height as Beka shot out of the bush and shouted, "Kael, look out!"

            The all turned to see the guard Kael had knocked out, staggering to his feet, brining his gun to bear on Kael.

            Even as the guard pulled the trigger, Kael closed his eyes and took a quick, yet deep breath.  

As the lightshaft raced towards him, Trance turned her head, fully expecting to see a smoking hole in their newfound friend's chest.  All she heard, though, was Harper mutter "Holy shit", quickly followed by an "Ow!" from the woman.  She then heard another rifle shot and looked up.

            She saw the guard crumpling to the ground, Harper with his weapon smoking, Kael's lady friend with a shot wound in her arm, and Kael with his eyes still closed and his hand now in the air.  Beka and Harper were looking at Kael's lady friend.  Trance quickly ran over to her.

            Harper turned to Beka and finally spoke.  "I think our new friends are a little more than what they're cracked up to be."


	6. Escape and Questions...

Chapter 6

            "Isn't this just great!" Dylan exclaimed.  "We came here in hopes that the chancellor wanted to join the Commonwealth when all he really wanted was you."

"Some things don't always turn out the way that we plan," Rommie replied while examining the gate to their cell.

"We need to warn Tyr, I'm sure that Rycar will be making preparations to go seize Andromeda."

Rommie nodded and closed her eyes.

Back on the Andromeda, Rommie's voice came over the communication system.

"Tyr, we sort of have a problem."

Tyr was standing in the command deck when he heard her voice.

"So do I.  I can't find Beka or the little man.  Even Trance is missing.  I'm assuming that they somehow got down to the surface," Tyr responded, quite unhappily.

"We're already aware of that," she quickly replied.

"What?  How do you…?"

"That's not important," Rommie cut him off.  "Dylan and I have been taken captive by Chancellor Rycar and he'll soon be making his way to take over…well…me."

"See what happens when you try to be nice to such uncivilized people?  Oh never mind."

"Do your best at protecting the ship, and see if there is any way that you can somehow get in contact with Beka and the others.  I'll see if I can get us out of here."

"I'll see what I can do," Tyr replied as Rommie cut off.

Rommie opened her eyes and looked at Dylan.

"Okay, Tyr has been notified of the situation and I told him to try to get in contact with the others…if they're still okay…" Rommie trailed off.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Dylan replied comfortingly.  "However, how do you propose we get out of here?  My force lance could probably cut through these bars but…"

"Here," Rommie said, pulling a force lance out of somewhere on her body and extended it to Dylan.

"Since when did you come with storage compartments?"

"Since Harper installed one."

Dylan shook his head, taking the force lance.  Setting it to a high level, he aimed and pointed it at the lock on the door and fired.  The lock was no longer a lock, as it had been transformed into a large hole in the door.

Rommie quickly walked over to the door and threw it open.

"I'm assuming that there's going to be a large number of guards roaming the area," Dylan said, cautiously walking into the narrow corridor.

"The exit is that way," Rommie said, pointing to her right.  "There are two guards there and a few more outside," she stated, scanning the proximity.  "We may be able to get past the ones outside without being noticed, more than likely their just students, however we'll more than likely have to fight the two guarding the door."

"Well, may we make our way?"

The two of them quietly crept down the short hallway, stopping by the door.  Dylan looked at Rommie and nodded, she nodded in response.

The avatar kicked the door open with powerful force.  The guards on the other side, surprised by the sudden noise were unprepared when Dylan charged one and knocked him to the ground.  Rommie, without wasting anytime, swiftly knocked the other guard into the wall, knocking him unconscious.

Quickly looking around their surroundings, they found they were near the edge of the Academy.  The setting sun could barely be seen behind a canopy of trees that were to their left.

Without any other consideration, Dylan and Rommie quickly ran for the forest, hoping to find some cover, leaving behind a group of academy students looking at them.

~~~~***~~~~

Trance was wrapping Jessea's with Beka looking on while Harper was trying to get information out of Kael.

"One reason I try _not _to use physical force," Kael mused, looking at the guard Harper had shot only minutes ago.

"What the Hell was that!?" Harper asked. "How the Hell did you _do _that?  You just…raised your hand and the ray just bounced in another direction?  I mean…" Kael raised his hand to stop him.

"I'm sorry Mr. Harper but I really don't have the time to explain right now."  He turned away from a baffled Harper to focus his attention on Jessea.

"I am so sorry about that Jessea," he said, while walking over to her. "I really didn't have the time to deflect it correctly.  I just should have stopped it."

"Don't worry about it," she replied, wincing in pain as Trance finished wrapping the wound.  "Better it hit my arm than you in the chest.  Thank you Trance," Jessea said smiling at her and getting herself to her feet.

"I'm glad I could be of some help, but, what happened?" Trance asked confused.  "I had closed my eyes and I missed everything."

"Kael deflected the shot and it came at me.  I wasn't quick enough to dodge it," Jessea said.

"Yeah, but _how_?" Harper asked again, trying to get into the conversation.

"Please Mr. Harper, not right now.  We need to find a safe place until we know that the Academy won't be sending any more troops out for you," Kael replied forcefully yet with some compassion.  "I'll try to answer any questions that you may have at that time, however, that doesn't mean that you'll understand them.  Miss Gemini, Miss Valentine, are you ready?"

"I suppose so…" Trance said vaguely.  "I'm still really confused."

"You're not the only one," Harper scoffed.

"So, shall we walk, or do you want to get us there a faster way Kael?" Jessea asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's getting late," he replied, looking at the sky. "It'll be dark soon.  I suppose that I could just teleport us there," he said rather absent-mindedly.

"What?" Harper shouted.  "Teleportation?  This is getting freakier by the moment…"

"Yes Mr. Harper, teleportation," Kael replied with a smile.  "Now, if all you will please get in a circle and hold hands…"

"First," Beka interrupted, "where are you taking us?"

"We're going into the city," Jessea answered.  "It's unlikely that the Academy will send in a search squad to that location."

"Okay…" Beka said, as they formed the circle.

Kael closed his eyes and concentrated, attempting to fold time and space around the group.

"What's with the whole peace, love, prosperity thing?" Harper said casually about them all having to hold hands.

"Mr. Harper!" Kael snapped, opening his eyes and looking at Harper.  "Unless you would like us to end as a tangled mess of atoms when I'm done with this, I would suggest to be quite!" He closed his eyes again.

Harper began to say something but thought better of it; he _didn't_ want to find out what would happen if something would go wrong.

As they stood there, the surroundings around them seem to ripple, then dissipate.

Trance, finding herself feeling sick, closed her eyes.  When she opened them again, she found that they were standing in a small room with some furniture scattered about it.

_I miss everything, _she thought to herself.


	7. A Few Answers

Chapter 7

Beka, Trance, and Harper all found seats within the room as Jessea started explaining to them who she was.  Kael stood silently by a set of stairs going up to a second floor.

"I am the leader of a rebel faction against the government of Orkana Prime," she began.  "Kael is part of this faction also."

"Why do you want to overthrow the government?" Beka asked, quite concerned with whom they have gotten themselves involved with.

"The government has not been very kind to the majority of the people on this planet.  They rule us with an iron hand, reaping the rewards of our labors.  They give special treatment to those that are in the Academy and to those that are 'gifted', however, the majority of the people are not."

"Gifted?  You mean like genius?"  Harper asked.

"No, not quite Seamus.  By gifted, I mean like Kael.  To have the ability to warp and bend physics.  Although our entire race has this ability to some degree, some of us are better at it then others. However, being intelligent usually goes hand in hand with being able to manipulate these forces.

"My group is preparing to launch a strike against the Academy soon.  I would be happy to have you along with our group, if that would be possible. Yes?" Jessea asked as she saw Harper raise his hand.

 "Please, don't call me Seamus, just Harper," he bluntly stated.

"I'm sorry Jessea, but, I don't think that we can help you," Beka said apologetically.

"I understand," Jessea said with a sigh.  "It's very dangerous, and I cannot expect you to help out people that you barely know."

"No, we would be happy to help you…" Trance started to say.

"But our captain," Beka took over, "is in discussion right now with your chancellor about being in the Commonwealth.  I don't think that he would be really happy if we would go about stirring up trouble and trying to cause a revolt."

"Too late for one of those two criteria," Harper muttered. Beka elbowed him in the ribs and he was quiet.

Suddenly a beeping sound came from one of Harper's pockets.

"What the hell is that?" Beka said surprised.

"Oh, it's just my local transmitter," Harper answered, pulling a small black box out of his pocket.  "I made it so that the Andromeda can contact us when the need to."  His eyes got big when he finished what he was saying.  "Uh oh, that means that Tyr CAN find us…"

"You better see what he wants," Beka said exasperated as the beeping continued.

Harper pressed a button on the box, "Harper here," he said, almost scared.

"I finally got a hold of you!" Tyr's voice was heard.

"Is there something that you needed," Harper said, trying to sound casual.

"No, I'm fine, however, our wonderful Dylan has gotten himself into a bit of trouble.

"What kind of trouble?" Beka said worriedly.

"Well, it's nice to know that you're there too Beka," Tyr said coldly.  "He has been…detained by the Chancellor and now, he's going to be coming to take the Andromeda."

"This is _not_ good," Trance said.

"No it's not," Tyr replied. "I suggest that you try to find him and Rommie without getting yourselves killed in the process..." His voice trailed off for a second. "Because _I_ want the enjoyment of punishing you when you get back."

"Roger." Harper said, turning off the transmitter.

"This is just great," Beka said, holding her forehead.

"Well, it appears that our enemy is now the same," Jessea said.

"Yeah, it seems that way doesn't it," Beka replied sighing.

"I don't suppose that you could, possibly…you know…" Trance began to say.

"We'll help you," Jessea said, putting her hand on Trance's shoulder.  "I'll do everything I can to help you get your captain back.  This seems to be a good time as any to start the revolution, and the more people we have, the better our chances."

"When do we start?" Harper exclaimed.  "Time to show those Academy freaks who's boss."

"Not so fast," Jessea intervened.  "It's going to take me a little bit of time to get everything in place."  She frowned and walked to the door.  "I'm going to have to leave for a while, make yourselves at home.  When I get back we'll leave, so be ready.  Try to get some rest while I'm gone.  If you need anything just ask Kael." She quickly turned and walked away.

"Waiting," muttered Harper, "I always hated waiting."


	8. Reunion

Chapter 8 

Jessea returned an hour later, bearing supplies and a plan.  The rest of the party were waiting and ready at her arrival.

"Okay people," Jessea said, as she walked through the door, "I have everything set up with the faction.  They'll be ready in the morning, before then though, we should see if we can rescue your Captain.  We'll have a better chance of getting him out of their alive if we go in by nightfall."

"Well, lets get going!" Harper exclaimed.

****

The group slowly made their way through the dense forest, trying to keep as quite as possible.  The twin moons of Orkana Prime gave them some light to work by, but mostly they only created ghostly shadows as they traveled.

Jessea led them through the foliage, explaining that Kael could not directly teleport them there as this would alert some of the guards that were attuned to time/space distortions.  As they walked, she explained the state of Orkana Prime and what they were fighting for.  Equality, democracy, and freedom were on the top of this list.  Of course, Harper wasn't paying attention to her; he had too many other thoughts on his mind.

_How do they do that?  They can just, wiggle their nose and change matter around them?  It just doesn't make any sense.  _Harper was thinking to himself the entire time.  He hadn't had time to talk to Kael when Jessea had left, and now Kael was scouting the area around them to make sure that there would be no surprises.  Harper supposed that he could just ask Jessea, yet, for some reason the boy intrigued him.  Obviously, Kael was more "attuned" with this power than Jessea, and more than likely he would be able to get a better answer from him.

Harper's train of thought was interrupted however when Kael shot of the brush next to them and began to speak with Jessea.  He couldn't make out any of the words they were saying, none of them were of a language that he had even heard before.

Before they could even finish their conversation, however, rustling was heard coming from the direction that they were heading.

Jessea quickly turned on her heel and faced the noise, pulling out her blaster.  Everybody followed suit, except for Kael, who only turned.

"Who's there?" Jessea asked sternly.  "I have four armed people with me who aren't afraid to kill!"

"I thought you said that we were going away from the Academy?"  A hushed familiar voice was heard.

"Dylan, is that you?"  Beka called out.

"Beka?"  The reply came.

"It's Dylan!" Trance said excitedly.  "We're over here!"  She said, jumping up and down.

Dylan and Rommie walked towards the group, happy to finally see somebody that they knew, even though they had all disobeyed orders.

"I'm so glad we found you!"  Trance said, running up to Dylan, giving him a big hug.

"So am I," Dylan replied, hugging her back.

"I'm glad that everybody cares about me too," Rommie said, watching the reunion.

"Of course we missed you Rom-Doll," Harper said with a smile. "I know _I_ missed you anyway."

"How sweet of you Harper," Rommie said sarcastically. Harper just smirked.

"Are you going to introduce us to your friends now or are they still going to shoot us?" Dylan asked jokingly.

"Sorry Dylan.  I forgot all about Commonwealth courtesy with everything that has been going on lately," Beka said mockingly.

"This," Trance said, pointing, "is Jessea.  She's a leader of a rebel group against the government.  Kael, over there, is also part of it.  They helped us when the Academy sent guards after us."

"And Kael has all these weird powers and…" Harper butted in.

"Harper!" Beka said shortly, silencing him.

"I'm very pleased to meet you," Dylan said, extending his hand to Jessea, attempting to ignore Harper's normal antics to get attention.  "Thank you for helping my crew."

"You're very welcome," she responded, shaking his hand.  "I hope that the Chancellor's actions have not stigmatized Orkana Prime to never being in the new Commonwealth."

"I hope not either," Dylan replied.  Then he frowned.  "Unfortunately, at this point, my major concern is keeping Rycar's hands off Andromeda."

"Well, maybe we can both help each other…" Jessea's voice trailed off as she pulled Dylan aside.

After a few moments of discussion, Jessea and Dylan turned back to the group.

"Okay, we're going to go find a good place to make camp for the night.  We're going to have a long day tomorrow," Dylan said.

"I found a small clearing in this direction," Kael finally spoke, pointing to his right.  "It should suffice."

Jessea nodded and once again took the lead, Dylan following closely behind her, the rest of the group trailing behind.


	9. A Midnight History Lesson

Chapter 9 

Harper couldn't tell how late it was, the moons never seemed to move and the sky didn't seem to be getting any brighter.  It had been about two hours since they had set up camp and went to sleep.  Harper tried to get rest but he would go in and out of fits of sleep, but he couldn't keep himself that way.

"Is something wrong Harper?" He heard Rommie's soft voice next to him.

"No, I just can't sleep," he replied, sitting up.  "So, what do you think of this place Rom-Doll?"

"Its an interesting planet," she mused.  "Quite different than any other planet that was ever in the Commonwealth.  If we could get them in the Commonwealth, it would be very advantageous for us."

Harper just looked at her.

"That's not what you meant was it?  Yeah, I suppose that the people here are a little strange, but then are all the other planets we visit.  None of them are alike."

"Yeah, but, how many other races can control quantum physics?" Harper asked.

"None that I know of," Rommie paused for a moment.  "Is that what's bothering you?"

"Yeah," Harper said, lowering his head.  "I just don't like the thought of how all this works.  I don't understand it!"

"We all know how you don't like not understanding things," she smiled.

"I've been trying to talk to Kael about it, but I never can seem to catch him."

"Why don't you go talk to him now?  He's over there," Rommie said, pointing towards a hill.  "He's just been standing there for about an hour now.  I wonder what he's doing…"

"I'll go find out.  Thanks Rom-Doll!" Harper said, leaping up. Before he headed over to Kael, he gave Rommie a peck on the cheek. Rommie just stood there, stunned.

When Harper reached the top of the hill, he saw that they weren't really in a clearing but on the edge of an outcrop.  The view was amazing; lights of a large city could be seen sparkling across the far horizon and even though the moons lit the night sky with great intensity, hundreds of stars could be seen across the dark blanket of sky.

At the edge, he saw Kael.  Kael was just standing there, looking out over the bluff, his hand playing with something around his neck.

"Hello Mr. Harper," Kael said, without even turning around as Harper made his way towards the edge.

"Hey Kael," Harper said, walking up to his side.

"I'm sorry that I snapped at you earlier," Kael said, lowering his head.  "I understand that this is all new for you; you don't understand…you don't like that…"

"It's okay," Harper replied.  "Why can't-"

"I just explain?" Kael said, cutting him off.  "It's complicated.  I try not to get into it too much…it reminds me too much of when I was in the Academy."

"You were in the Academy?  I thought it was a military academy.  No offense, but you don't look any bigger than I do."

Kael smiled, "They made exceptions for me.  My…talent was greater than most, they didn't want to loose such a prized student because of physical limitations.  Heck, I was admitted into the Academy when I was fifteen, which by the way is very young for such a prestigious acknowledgement.  I had a pretty good career going for me.  Now, four years later, I have enough knowledge to unravel a complex temporal paradox in less than five minutes, and look at where I ended up." He paused for a moment.  "You think it's beautiful don't you?" He asked, waving his hand at the scene in front of them.

"Yeah. I guess," Harper replied.  "It kind of reminds me of the few peaceful nights that I had when I was on Earth."  Harper chuckled.

"I hate it!" Kael said, turning away from the cliff.  "This place, this government, this planet, I hate it all!  I just want to get as far away from this planet as I can!"

Harper turned around to look at him.  His shoulders were shuddering, he was still holding whatever it was that was around his neck.

"What is that," Harper asked, pointing to Kael's closed hand, trying to divert the conversation to another subject.

"Oh, this?" Kael asked, opening his hand to show Harper.  It was a small pendant on a small silver chain.  A clear, blue crystal was the center of it.  The crystal itself seemed like a normal piece of glass, other than it emitted a dull glow.  "This, Mr. Harper, is what my planet calls a Talmrin."

"A what?"

"A Talmrin," Kael gave a small smile.  "It's an energy crystal.  That's how we use our powers, by taking energy from the surrounding area and using it to bend physics to what we want it to be.  Well, that and a lot of mathematics and formulas.  You wouldn't believe the amount of theoretical physics you would learn by going to the Academy!"

"So, you need one of those things to be able to do…whatever you do?"

"No.  Actually, a Talmrin is usually given to a student who is first starting to learn their powers.  It prevents them from drawing in too much energy.  If we do, we can destroy ourselves.  Our bodies are different than of your people.  The energy we collect goes through our nervous system, that way we have direct control over it.  Unfortunately this has dire consequences on it, it tears it apart.  We're capable of regenerating our nervous system over time, but we can still be, lets just say 'overloaded.'  After we learn how to control our powers though, we usually just cast off the Talmrin.  I hope that has answered some of your questions."

"Yeah, thanks.  But, if you don't need that…Talmrin thing, then why do you keep it?"

"I'm not really sure," Kael answered, turning the Talmrin over in his hand.  "I guess, because it's the only thing that my parents left me.  It's the only thing that I have left of them…"

"I know how that feels…losing your whole family.  Except mine was killed right in front of my eyes.  That's a terrible sight to remember."

"Yes, but do you know how it feels, when your family is stripped away from all of society that you used to be a part of?  Respected, then condemned?  Your brother, killed in the middle of the street, because he didn't agree with what the government was doing?  Your parents, put into exile because of their child's failures?  To be training as an elite, then, ending up killing your own parents, without even knowing that you did until it was too late?"  Kael's voice had become unstable, his breathing rapid.

Harper stood in silence as Kael attempted to regain his composure.

"You see," Kael started, his voice extremely calm, "the Academy always thought that it was important that all students learn how to use weapons blindfolded. That way, if we were ever unable to see, that we would still be able to fight, they also did this so we could practice our telepathy.  When I took my test, I knew something was wrong, I just didn't know what…I was young and stupid then.  I did it perfectly though, I hit the targets, just like I was supposed to, perfect aim I may add.  When I took off my blindfold…I saw…my parents were the targets…"

Harper tried to find words, but couldn't.  Although he had seen his own parents killed, he wasn't the one who pulled the trigger.

"Even if the government was taken away and peace was restored here, would you still want to leave?" Harper asked, after a long silence, unsure if he should even say anything at all.

"Yes, Mr. Harper, I would."

"Kael, you don't have to call me Mr. Harper you know."

"I was doing it out of respect.  How would you like for me to address you?"

Harper thought for a moment before answering, "Just call me Seamus."


	10. Dawn of Rebellion

Chapter 10

            In the morning, the group awoke early, trying to get a head start on the day. They ate a modest meal, and, as soon as the other members of the rebel faction arrived, set about making final preparations for the assault on the Academy. Jessea, Dylan, and Rommie reviewed the layout of the academy and points of detonation for the explosives they would be using. Harper went about setting the yield for the explosives. Kael was on guard/scout duty. Beka was checking the weapons for the group and doing some last minute combat training with the rebel faction members. Trance was busy using the local transmitter to communicate with Tyr, who was getting medical supplies ready for the inevitable injuries to come. A good four hours passed, and finally the time had come for the assault to begin. Gathered in the clearing, everyone massed together to hear Jessea speak. 

"The time has come, my friends. Now is the hour of our strike. Today we will free our world of the tyrannical oppression that has kept us from living the lives we should. I would like to give special thanks to Captain Dylan Hunt and his crew for all the assistance they have provided. 

In order to bring down the Academy, the captain and I have found it necessary to destroy the actual facility that houses the training facilities and government offices. The captain, his avatar and I will infiltrate the building and set charges at specific blast points that we have predetermined. Unfortunately, in order for us to do this, many of the security systems will need to be shut down. Mr. Seamus Harper and our own Kael Lidar have volunteered to penetrate the bowels of the Academy, and overload their computer core, virtually shutting the academy down. Unfortunately, this means that neither Kael, nor I, will be able to lead you into battle. Therefore, I am placing you under the command of the captain's first officer, Ms. Beka Valentine and their doctor, Ms. Trance Gemini."

Murmurs arose from the crowd and the crowd parted to see their new leaders.  Beka and Trance shot each other looks of worry, then looked to Dylan. He was just grinning like a schoolboy. "Do not fret, my friends. I know these individuals very well and they are quite competent at leading you all. They have saved my life and I trust them wholly. You will respect them as you would respect me, and follow their every order." The crowd suddenly closed rank and saluted. Beka looked at Trance, and they both returned the gesture. The crowd's attention returned to Jessea.

"Now my friends, prepare yourselves. This will be the toughest battle we have fought, and the boldest move we have made to date. Many will fall, and many more will carry the scars of battle from here. However, if we succeed with our mission, we will have the opportunity to begin to erase the scars which tyranny has so wickedly bestowed upon our people. We are not fighting for the 'I', or the 'you', or the 'we'. We are fighting for the 'us'. Together, we will show the universe that we will not be silenced!"

The crowd erupted into a roar, with the Andromeda crew joining in. The thunderous cry seemed as powerful as the weapons everyone carried and felt as though it stretched into eternity. As the noise died down, Jessea issued her only battle orders.

"Everybody to your stations, let's go! Rebels, please report to Commander Valentine and Commander Gemini for further instructions. Fight with your heart and we will win!"

Another roar exploded as everyone scurried off to pick up weapons, secure gear, strap on uniforms, and wish each other luck. 


	11. The Battle Begins

Author's Note:  I want to thank all of you for all of the feedback.  I really appreciate it!  Sorry about the revisions to some of the previous chapters.  Some minor mistakes had been brought to my attention that needed to be remedied; I'm a stickler for accuracy (or at least I try to be)!  Please keep the reviews coming and let me know what you think!

Chapter 11 

            Trance and Beka looked at the ranks of faction soldiers that were now assembling into a battle formation.

"I'm not so sure about this Beka," Trance said uncertainly.  "Leading a group of soldiers into the Academy, what may very possibly be their last day.

"Don't worry about it," Beka said with a smile, pulling out her blaster.  "They already know the odds that are against them.  I would be more concerned about the others.  We at least have each other to depend on, the other two groups don't really have that comfort."

By this time, the faction was assembled, ready and waiting for instructions.  Jessea walked over to Beka and Trance, pulling them aside.

"Okay, this is what's going to have to happen," Jessea said in a hushed voice, "you're going to have to go into the academy first, trying to pull out some of their fire.  Harper and Kael are then going to advance into the Academy, us following shortly behind.  It's imperative that they succeed in shutting down the internal defense mechanisms, otherwise we won't be able to get to some of the detonation points that we need to."

"We'll do our best," Trance said, trying to sound reassuring.

"I expect nothing less."

"I guess we should get moving then," Beka said, handing Trance her blaster.  "Everybody ready?"  Beka shouted, turning to the ranks.

Only roars of voices were heard as a response.

****

The first wave of soldiers entered the Academy with blinding speed.  Blaster shots could be heard from outside of the building's walls as lightfights soon erupted inside of the structure. As Beka and Trance entered the large doors of the Academy, they soon saw how large it was; corridors seemed to go off in hundreds of different directions, thousands of doors could be seen down just the single main hallway.

Rebel soldiers were running up and down the hallways, trying to draw as much attention to them as they possibly could.  The Academy, unprepared for the assault, was in a state of total disarray.  Academy personnel were seen scurrying about, trying to recreate order in the chaos that was following.  Soon enough, however, ranks of Academy soldiers and students were lining up to start the resistance against their invaders.

Beka noticed the growing number of Academy uniforms and motioned to Trance.

"It's time to take this battle outside," Beka shouted over the blaster fire.  "We can't stay and fight in here, there's not enough room, and not to mention we need to draw as much fire away from Harper and Kael."

Trance nodded in agreement.  "Fallback!"  Trance screamed as loudly as she could.

The faction slowly proceeded to move out of the Academy, soldiers following closely behind, shooting blasters and bolts of energy at the rebels.

Within a few minutes, the majority of the rebels were mostly outside, with only a few number of them within the Academy walls, however the number of Academy soldiers only seemed to continue to pour out the door.

****

"We need to get in there," Kael said from his and Harper's hiding spot, a few yards off from the intense battle that was raging in front of the Academy doors.

"Isn't it going to be kind of hard to get by unnoticed with all of those Academy soldiers coming out of those doors?" Harper asked sarcastically.

"It's better that we go in their before they get too organized, which I know from experience doesn't take them long to accomplish," Kael answered.  He then added with a grin, "Who ever said anything about needing a door?"

Without giving Harper a chance to reply, Kael grabbed his wrist and started running toward the Academy.

"What in the Devine's name are you doing?" Harper shouted as the outside wall of the Academy was quickly came up to meet them.

"Just trust me Seamus," was Kael's only reply before pulling them into the wall.

A surprised Harper soon found himself and Kael _through _the wall and inside one of the Academies numerous training rooms.

****

"Now I see why you had Kael go with Harper," Rommie said, looking on as she saw the two dematerialize through the wall.

"Not only that," Jessea said, looking over Rommie's shoulder, "but he's the only one who knows where he's going in there.  I think the majority of us would only get lost.  That is if we didn't have a High Guard avatar with us."

"I'm glad that I'm good for something."

"Now's our chance," Dylan interrupted their conversation, pointing to the battlefield.  Trance and Beka had divided into two groups, pulling the Academy's forces away from the entrance.  Now only the occasional soldier could be seen coming out of the threshold.

"There's no turning back now," Jessea said, running towards the Academy, her weapon drawn with Rommie and Dylan quickly following behind.


	12. Inside the Academy

Chapter 12 

            "How did I get myself roped into this one again?" Harper whined as the two of them ducked in and out of the hundreds of different passages in the Academy.

            "You've never seen me try to use a computer," Kael answered, pulling him down a narrow corridor.  "It's not a pretty sight."  He put his hand over Harper's chest and closed his eyes as two Academy soldiers ran past their position.  Focusing on the two soldiers, he manipulated their minds to make them _think_ that they were no longer there.

The two soldiers stopped, confused, thinking that they had seen something.  Shrugging to each other, they continued on their way.

After they had left, Kael stuck his head around the corner, making sure that they had gone.

"That was close," Kael said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"They didn't see us, yet they looked right at us.  How…"

"Not now," Kael interrupted, pulling him down the hallway.

Harper was going to press for an answer, but then thought better of it.

As they snuck through more and more intertwining and twisting passages, Harper started to look worried. 

"You are going to remember the way out, aren't you?" Harper asked nervously. Kael just turned and grinned a grin that screamed 'maybe, and then again, maybe not'. Harper let out a sigh, shook his head and they started moving again. They went another thousand feet, before stopping at a large door. 

"The security measures are all ran from here. This is the central computer core, the most sophisticated piece of technology on our planet…or so I'm told. I'm afraid this is where your work begins Mr. Harper," Kael said with a grin, knowing it would get a rise out of Harper. "The electronic lock needs to be picked. It is heavily encrypted, so take your time."

Harper began pulling out tools and fiddling with various points at the door. After about five minutes, Kael looked over and noticed a small glint of light. He moved a little closer, and found something that nearly froze his blood.

A security camera.

He quickly used his mind to create a power surge through the camera. It blew up, but unfortunately, there was more than one. And Kael saw them all blow, one by one, as his power surge continued to grow as it traveled down the lines tying them all together. 

Harper had turned at the sound of the explosion, and now asked, "What, pray tell, was that?" Kael walked over to where the first camera had blown and picked some of the pieces. 

"We had some snoopers," he replied.

"Next time, ask me before you blow something up, K?" 

Kael shrugged. "Looks like were gonna have company." 

"Great," Harper muttered. "I just _love_ unexpected company."

**** 

As soon as Harper and Kael had disappeared, it was Dylan, Rommie, and Jessea's (or the Pyro Group, as they had nicknamed themselves) turn. They maneuvered their way over to where Harper and Kael had disappeared, and began clearing the way towards the door. The Academy soldiers, being forced to wage a battle on two fronts began retreating from the Pyro Group, and concentrating their efforts on the main battle. The Pyro Group slipped inside, only to duck as the security cameras above them exploded one by one. They rose slowly, and Dylan picked up a twisted piece of metal and wires that had once been a camera. 

"Looks like Harper's work," Dylan said.

 "And just what do you mean by that?" Rommie asked, poignantly, with her hands on her hips.

"Only that Harper's inventions and intentions don't ever do what they're intended to."

Jessea and Dylan started to walk toward an opening leading to a hall, while Rommie was paused in thought. As what he said dawned on her she ran after them. 

"Dylan! Dylaaaaaan!"


	13. Just A Thought (or Two)

Chapter 13 

            "Damn!" Harper shouted, slamming his fist against the computer panel next to the door.

"What's wrong?" Kael asked, walking over to Harper, still on alert for any Academy soldiers that may be soon making their way over to their location.

"You said encrypted, not welded shut!" he exclaimed, frustrated.  "This damn thing has so many different access codes and security loops it'd be faster to stare a hole through the door! On top of that," he raised his hands in exasperation, "this thing doesn't have a port that I can jack into!  It's going to take me four hours to decrypt all this stuff!"

"We unfortunately don't have that much time.  I'm sure that there's going to be some guards to be checking up on us pretty soon," Kael replied, trying to scan the area with his power to detect if there was anybody that would coming to greet them.

"Can't you just, you know, teleport us through the door?"

Kael shook his head.  "Not unless you want your DNA and molecular structure to be scrambled.  They made sure that they put up a temporal distortion field around the entire room so that nobody can get through that easily."

"There's just so many different codes," Harper sighed, tapping away on the control panel again.  "I've gotten through most of the security measures, but now it wants an override pass code because it's in lock-down mode.  I don't suppose that you would know what that would be?"

"Each person is given their own set of codes to use for doors and such.  That way the Academy can track what each person does," Kael paused for a moment.  "I suppose I can try my old codes, they probably won't work though."

"I'm up for anything right now _other _than sitting here all day and trying to debug this damn thing."  

"Please provide override security code," a steely mechanical voice came through the panel after Harper had hit a few buttons.

"Override code alpha, one, three, bravo, one, six, omega, omega; student ID number one, three, three, two, five, one," Kael said slowly, pronouncing every syllable clearly.

"Student…Kael Lidar…override code…rejected.  Faculty override needed for lock-down priority," the voice returned.

"Well _that _didn't work," Harper said.  "Maybe if we would-" Kael cut him off.

"Override code one, three, four, six, twelve, bravo, zeta, one, three, two, one, three; priority five, two, seven, nine; Faculty ID number three, two, one, three, two, eight; department ID number one, three, one, six."

"Faculty…Doctor Kael Lidar…Department…Temporal Sciences…Override code…authenticated."

"Wow, it actually worked," Kael mused.  "They should actually keep their student and faculty databases updated."

"Since when were you a doctor?" Harper asked as he continued to work on the control panel.  "Yes!"  He exclaimed as he heard a short beep come from the panel and the doors opened.

"_You_ may be an engineering genius, Seamus," Kael said as they began to make their way into the room, "but _I_ am a temporal genius."

****

"All right, time to split up. You all know where your blast points are," Jessea said. "We'll report back here in one half-hour. Don't be late," she warned. "'Cause this thing will blow up just the same with you in it." 

"Aye aye," Rommie said and watched as Dylan went to secure the basement, and Jessea, the lower corridors. _Guess that leaves me with the top_, Rommie thought to herself. As she walked along, she pondered. _Why did he give me a kiss? We've always been friends, but he's never done anything like that before, not even when he's ecstatic. So why now? Could it be that Harper has feelings for me?_ She considered it for a second but then thought, _ No, that's impossible. How could he have feelings for me? I am his creation, well partially. It would be well, weird. Then again, he _is_ cute, and my speech subroutines always seem to tangle a little when I get near him. _Those thoughts stopped her cold in tracks, but it as just as well, for she was at her first blast point. She knelt a reached into the backpack she had, and pulled out the parts needed to set the explosive. She thought more as she worked. _Does this mean _I _have feelings for Harper? How could that be? We've been friends for so long………or is that the cause of my feelings? Have they now turned to love? Arrgh, this is so confusing. Very well, then, Seamus Harper, I love you, but I have no idea what to do about it._

****

Trance and a group of three soldiers quickly ducked behind a fallen stone slab, using it as cover. They aimed at a phalanx of soldiers that had a good number of faction soldiers pinned down, and fired. Soldiers fell like flies, and the ones that didn't were obviously surprised. They looked around, giving the other faction soldiers time to fire. _Seamus better get out of this alive_, she mused._ I've risked too much to have him killed. Although, Kael is quite cute in his own right…_ She shook her head and fired at another Academy soldier. The phalanx had now turned into a group of ten soldiers. _Bad Trance!_ she thought. _You love Harper, and you need to remain loyal to him, even if Kael is downright sexy…_As she shot the last soldier near the factionists, she wondered, _I wonder how hard it would be to have _two_ boyfriends…………_


	14. A Cruel Twist of Fate

Chapter 14 

            As Kael and Harper entered the computer chamber, Harper couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. The computer was very large, filling the whole chamber. 

            "Holy…" Harper started to say.

            "Seamus, let's save the expletives for the way out, where I'm sure they'll be much more appropriate," Kael silenced him. "Right now, you need to focus on the computer. You'll need to disable the security measures one by one, then melt the core."

            "Any particular reason?" Harper asked sarcastically. "Or do you just get a kick out of telling the computer whiz what to do with a computer."

"If you don't, instead of disabling the systems, you'll set them off, killing your friends, and my leader," Kael snapped. "You need to melt the core because the systems are self-repairing. If the core isn't slagged, they'll just fix themselves."

"Alright! I was just teasing! Geez!" Harper exclaimed plugging into the computer.

"I apologize for snapping at you, Seamus, but we've been here a while and I'm sure the demolitions team is near done setting the explosives. I'd like to get out here _before _the building blows." Kael smiled. "If you need me, I'll be over in the doorway guarding the entrance."

"K, thanks for the warning," Harper said. He looked over the vast expanse over the computer cavern. "Just hope I do this right," he muttered to himself.

****

_Better get moving,_ Rommie thought, as she finished up another bomb and moved quickly on. _I still can't believe this though. I really never thought about Seamus that way. How the hell are we going to have a relationship? Does he even want one? What will his reaction be when I tell him this? _The questions circled about in her mind like a rampaging tornado. She pulled out the ingredients for her last explosive and paused. _What if he wants children? What would we do about that? What would they look like?_ This thought amused her. Little Seamuses and little Rommies running around the ship, terrorizing Dylan and the rest of the crew. She laughed, then sighed. _We'll figure that out when we get there I suppose. _A 5-minute warning message snapped her out of her thoughts. 

"Shit!" She swore, furrowed her brow, and hurried to put the last explosive together. She completed it, stuck it to the ceiling, and hurried down the hallway. She got to a door, opened it, and gasped.

It was Chancellor Rycar.

"Very clever, my dear, but I need your ship, and you seem to be the only way to get it," he said calmly. Rommie drew her blaster, but something tugged it out of her grasp, and she saw it melt in mid-air.

"Ah ah ah, my dear, can't have you doing that," he warned. He then waved his rifle at her. "Move," he snapped. 

Rommie could do nothing but follow his orders.

****

"Ha ha! I've done it again! Thank you! Thank you! No autographs please!" Harper said with a smile as the computer gave an overload warning.

"Good, now let's get out of here," Kael said, uninterested in Harper's performance. "Jack out, grab your gun, and let's go! Guards are already closing in on our position!"

"Gotcha, Doc," Harper said, trying to get a rise out of Kael.

They started out of the room and disappeared into the murky corridors.


	15. Unraveling of the Academy

_Author's Notes: We're almost to the finish!  Please let me know what you think of the story and of where you think I'm going with this.  Constructive criticism is always appreciated; so please let me know what you would like to see!!!!  I must apologize for the long wait, I've been extremely busy.  Enjoy!_

Chapter 15

Dylan quickly ran out of the Academy into a large open field, lightfights going on everywhere, and dead soldiers on every side of him. Dylan shook his head, although he had seen much death in his time, it was not something that he enjoyed.  He was relieved, however, to see that none of his crew was among the dead.

Jessea ran up from behind him, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"We've done all we can do.  The soldiers here knew what they were getting themselves into, all we have left is to bring down the Academy," Jessea said, trying to justify the destruction to Dylan. A blaster bolt sizzled past Dylan's left arm, searing his clothes.

Dylan nodded.  "We'd better find cover," he said to Jessea. "Where's Rommie?"  He asked, looking around.  "I don't see her, she must still be in there.  She may just be an android, but she's a lot more than that."

"I'm sure Rommie is around somewhere, I'm sure she's fine," she answered, reassuringly.  "Hey, look over there." Jessea said, pointing.

A small group of rebel soldiers were walking towards Jessea and Dylan, Trance and Beka in the front leading them.  Beka waved to them and started a brisk walk to meet them.

"It looks like we made it," Beka said casually, once they met up with Jessea and Dylan.

"Yes, but with great losses," Trance added, looking back at the small group of soldiers that had followed them over.  "This is all we have left that are still able to fight, however, the majority of the Academy soldiers have either been taken captive or have been incapacitated."

"Well, I guess all that's left is to blow this thing to kingdom come then," Beka said with a smile, turning to the Academy.

"It would appear that way wouldn't it?" Jessea said, pulling out a small detonator out of her bag.  "I would suggest that we get far away from here, this thing's going to go out with a bang."

****

"Now my dear," Rycar said, as they lead them to a small docking station adjacent to the Academy, "you're going to help me get to the Andromeda so that I may take rightful control over it."

Rommie walked on silently, trying to think of a way to get herself out of this mess.

"You seem rather quiet my dear.  I can't help but wonder what you're thinking about inside that little mechanical head of yours."

"You're not going to take over the Andromeda," she said defiantly, "and I'm not going to let you."

"That's where you're wrong," Rycar said, turning her around so that she was facing him.  "You don't understand with whom you're dealing with," he said, waving his hand, throwing her against a wall.  "You see, you can't hurt me.  You can't even get close enough to hurt me."

Rommie picked herself off of the ground and stood up.  A large dent in the wall had formed where her body had come in contact with it.

_That she hadn't expected_, she thought to herself.  _He's right though, I can't get close enough to him to do anything…unless I can catch him off guard-_

Her thoughts were interrupted as a huge blast that came from the direction of the Academy echoed through the docking bay.

****

"How much more time do we have until they set off the bombs?" Harper asked as the two ran quickly through the Academy corridors, attempted to bypass the guards and soldiers still roaming about.

"I don't know," Kael answered, heaving.  "I don't have an internal clock in me.  All I know is that we don't have much time."  He paused for a moment, trying to catch his breath.

Harper came up behind him, shooting an Academy guard that had just turned down the hall.  "Come on," he said, trying to get Kael moving again.  "I personally don't want to be Harper fricassee when we're done with this."

Kael just nodded in agreement.  "Okay then," he said, starting to move again.  "We came from that direction when we came down here, so if we went that way-" a large explosion cut him off.

The walls of the Academy began to shake and crumble around them; the agonizing screams of Academy soldiers could be heard in the hallway just ahead.

"Holy…" Harper trailed off.

A wall of fire and debris was quickly coming up to meet them before the lights of the academy turned off and everything went black.


End file.
